


Even exchange

by starkanium



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 11:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9383024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkanium/pseuds/starkanium
Summary: "It’s far from the first time Tony’s ever pissed Steve off, but it’s even further from the last. The worst part is that, this time, he doesn’t even know what it is that he did exactly. His head is spinning and his ribs are aching and his legs are throbbing and his body is weak and Steve just won’t stop yelling. He manages to capture a snippet of Steve’s angry frown and blazing eyes before everything goes black."





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I just haven't posted anything in a while and I wanted to, so I came up with this. There are a few like plot holes and some stuff just doesn't add up, so just try to roll with it. If anything is too glaring, just let me know and I can see if I can go back and fix it a bit.

It’s far from the first time Tony’s ever pissed Steve off, but it’s even further from the last. The worst part is that, this time, he doesn’t even know what it is that he did exactly. His head is spinning and his ribs are aching and his legs are throbbing and his body is weak and Steve just won’t stop yelling. He manages to capture a snippet of Steve’s angry frown and blazing eyes before everything goes black.

 

They get the call at 11pm that Clint and Natasha were captured during their “simple” mission, and they’re in Germany by 2am. They’re told that Tony must surrender and enter the decrepit factory by himself, unarmed, or Clint and Natasha would face and lose to a firing squad.

“This is non-negotiable. We all go in there, get Clint and Natasha, and we all get out,” Steve growls at Tony.

Tony’s never seen him this angry before, and that even includes the time Clint dyed every single item of clothing Steve owned pink. 

“I’m just saying,” Tony counters, “it would buy us some more time and give them less collateral if I just went in there now. Two lives for the price of one, if it comes to that. I have complete faith that you could save me before it really does come to that, but I don’t think we should be messing around with Clint and Natasha’s lives here.”

“Steve is right, you know,” Bruce chimes in, “We’ve done simple raids like this before, and we’ve had a hundred percent success rate. We could be in and out in minutes, and Clint and Natasha can be home within the next few hours. If we go in there with a plan, we’ll be fine.”

Tony glances around the room to see a handful of solemn faces with glints of determination in their eyes. He knows he’s beat, but he doesn’t have to like it.

“Fine, go ahead and play around, but don’t say I didn’t tell you so. I’m going to take a leak,” he says, storming from the room. 

He feels Steve, Bruce, and Coulson’s eyes on his back as he slams the door to the conference room shut, but he doesn’t pay them any mind. He continues walking down the dimly-lit corridor at the abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. facility they’re occupying with only one thought in his mind: he has to go to the factory, whether everyone else says so or not.

He figures he has around ten minutes before someone comes searching, so he makes the best of it. He readies his suit, specifically designed for stealth, and prepares a flight course that will take him to the entrance of the factory without indicating the enemies of his arrival. When he steps into the suit, Jarvis greets him.

“Good evening, sir. Would it be entirely inappropriate of me to tell you that this plan is ridiculous,” he says, and Tony can almost picture a smug smirk on his AI’s metaphorical face.

“Hello to you, too, Jarv. I’ve gotta say, it always is a pleasure talking to you,” he smiles back.

It should take about three and a half minutes for him to arrive at the compound, and about three more minutes to analyze the security and layout of the building. By that time, someone will be suspicious and looking for him, but it’ll be too late. He doesn’t want to have to face Steve’s disappointed face later on, but he doesn’t want to see Clint or Natasha’s dead ones later on even more. Besides, Steve and Bruce were probably right about it being a simple and routine rescue, but he just couldn’t bear to leave them in there for one more second by themselves, especially if he could easily help them out. 

He touches down in a field about a hundred yards from the facility and is a little upset by what he sees.

“Jarvis, do a quick scan for me,” he says.

“It appears that both floors are occupied by some sort of mutated humans. According to the heightened heat signatures and body modifications, I would conclude that they were injected by the super soldier serum, or a similar strand. I would need further information for any definitive answer, however.”

“Well, shit,” Tony mumbles. 

The first and second floor are teeming with the dark red orbs of many heat signatures, marching in a seemingly random but intricate pattern. In the center of it all are two blotches of a lighter colored red, which Tony can easily conclude are Clint and Natasha. They are still warm, though, which means they were likely still alive.

“I’ve gotta go in there, Jarvis. Clint and Natasha are good, but not that good. There’s no way they could fight their way through that army,” he says.

“Sir, I would like to urge you to wait for backup before doing this,” Jarvis says.

“You know I can’t do that. Fly the suit back and tell Steve he better save my ass or I’m going to be pissed.”

With that, he disassembles the suit and steps out into the biting cold night. Here goes nothing.

 

The mutant people are even bigger close up, Tony muses, but they’re also honest. Tony can appreciate that. He’d entered the factory armed with a smirk and his witty charm, and was rewarded with a punch to the gut for his troubles. They did, however, release Clint and Natasha because they were apparently “more trouble than they were worth,” and so that the Avengers were less likely to come after them in the near future because they’d be preoccupied with making sure the assassins were okay before searching for Tony. That would give them enough time to make an escape and hunker down somewhere that they could really have fun with Tony.

Tony’s not a huge fan of being captured and beaten, but he thinks it’s worth it if Clint and Natasha got out of there, relatively unscathed. Very worth it.

At least, that’s what he tries to convince himself as he’s loaded into the third truck in their caravan and questioned.

“How much do you know about genetic engineering and modification?” Meathead numero uno asks with a light German accent.

“Close to nothing. You know, Bruce would have been a much better choice for this. All of his genes were modified; why wouldn’t you just ask him?” he retorts.

A giant fist is slammed into his left side by Meathead numero dos, and Tony swears he feels his ribs give out. He’s wheezing now, and every shuddered breath makes his side scream in agony.

“No need for smartass remarks, Mr. Stark. Answer our questions respectfully from here on, and no more punishment will come to you,” Meathead numero uno sneers. “What is the extent of your knowledge of genetic engineering and modification?”

Now, let it be said that Tony is not stupid, or even suicidal, but it may seem that way. He prefers the term “dashingly heroic and brave.”

“Fuck you,” Tony spits. 

Meathead numero uno turns to Meathead numero dos and nods at him. What follows is astoundingly unpleasant and rather atrocious, but Tony doesn’t remember much as he blacks out not too soon after.

 

Tony wakes with his arms chained above his head and supporting most of his body weight. His toes just barely skim the ground, but they touch just enough to prevent suffocation and promote pain. His head is foggy and his vision is, too, so it takes him a moment to remember his situation and the danger he is in. 

Once his memories catch up to him, though, Tony’s head jerks up on its own accord and sends his entire body swaying on the chains like a slab of meat on a hook. His body screams at him to stay still and to curl into a sniveling heap on the floor, but that’s impossible to do. Tony can’t help the pain-filled whimper that escapes his body, and he’s ashamed when one of the Meatheads guarding the door to the dank basement he’s in picks up on it.

“Glad to see you’re awake,” the guard says. “We were afraid Markus may have hit you a little too hard. Then all our trouble to get to you would be for nothing.”

Tony gathers up saliva and lingering blood in his mouth so he can spit it at the feet of the guard. It hits the guard’s shiny black boot with a satisfying splat. 

These guys, Tony concludes before he passes out, are the worst and angriest people he’s ever met, no matter how honest they may be, because the guard punches in the cheek with a mean right hook and Tony’s vision fades to nothing once again.

 

The next time he wakes up, it’s to bright lights and loud noises. He spots a dark blur in the corner of his eyes and blinks to clear his vision.

“Tones!” the dark blur, now distinguished as none other than Rhodey exclaims. “How do you feel?”

Tony considers the question and discovers he doesn’t quite know how to respond. He doesn’t feel much of anything rather than a general numbness and tingling sensation throughout his entire body.

“Okay, I guess,” he rasps. 

“Yeah, well, that’s probably just the meds. I can’t imagine you’d feel okay if you didn’t have them to help,” he says. His smile is watery, but it shows obvious relief. 

Tony wets his dry lips and clears his throat. “What happened?” he asks because he discovers he can’t really remember. Snippets of huge guys hitting him flit through his mind, but anything else seems to flutter just slightly out of his grasp.

Rhodey rubs the back of his head, his eyes flicking from Tony’s face to the floor.

“You gave yourself over to a few experiments in exchange for Clint and Natasha. They wanted you to reverse whatever was done to them, but I guess you said no.”

Right, that makes sense. He remembers the Meatheads and pretty much all of what happened after that, but that doesn’t explain why Rhodey seems so upset. Unless…

“Are Clint and Natasha okay?” Tony exclaims, struggling to sit up. 

A fire ignites deep in his body, his muscles shrieking and his bones groaning, and Tony falls back against the pillows of the hospital bed with a strangled shout. Now he’s panting and his ribs are aching and he’s just never experienced this much pain, aside from maybe the arc reactor surgery. So much for being numb!

“Clint and Natasha are fine, Tony, relax! You have to calm down or you’ll hurt yourself more,” Rhodey’s voice punctures through the haze of pain.

Tony tries to control his breathing because he knows if he does, the pain will recede at least a little, but he finds that he just can’t. The pain is all encompassing and he loses himself in a daze of agony and confusion. When he comes back to himself, however, Steve is standing above him, shouting and ranting, but Tony can’t actually make out a word of what he says. Soon, Rhodey is dragging the super soldier away and taking his place next to the bed.

“Everything is okay, Tones, go to sleep,” Rhodey murmurs, and so Tony does.

 

It’s two days later and Tony and Rhodey are playing go fish over a rolling table. 

“Why hasn’t anyone been in to visit me?” Tony asks during a lull in conversation.

Rhodey’s fingers hesitate in their search for the right card momentarily, but Tony still picks up on it. Rhodey’s uncomfortable.

“They’re probably just busy.”

“Oh, come on. Couldn’t come up with a better lie?” Tony snaps.

Rhodey sneaks a glance up at Tony before returning his eyes to his cards.

“They’re angry that you went off by yourself and that you got hurt for it,” he admits.

Tony snorts, which was a bad idea because it incites agony in his chest and side, but he ignores it and rolls his eyes.

“You know, I don’t really blame them either,” Rhodey says. “What you did was stupid and unnecessary. You all could have saved Clint and Natasha and nothing bad would have happened.”

“You don’t know that! They could have been dead if I didn’t go in there for all we know. You can’t predict the future. I just wanted to improve the chances of them coming out of it okay.”

“Yeah, well, they could have just killed them instead of releasing them. What would have happened then?”

That silences Tony. He doesn’t even want to think about it.

“So they hate me then?” Tony asks.

“No, they don’t hate you. They’re just upset with you and can’t bear to see you hurt.”

Tony sighs.

“Do you have any sixes?” he mutters.

 

Tony returns to the tower the next day, under strict instructions to rest. His body doesn’t have any lasting damage, but he is bruised and sore all over. He still hasn’t seen any of the other Avengers, or even Coulson yet, and it’s starting to worry him. He still stands behind his decision to go after the spies, but he’s starting to get pretty worried. What if they all really do hate him? Rhodey said otherwise, but surely they wouldn’t tell a guy that they hate his best friend, right? It just seems bizarre that his teammates, who claim to care about his wellbeing, didn’t bother to check up on him after being hurt.

He’s lying in bed, staring at the ceiling when he speaks up.

“Hey, Jarvis. Do you ever think it’s cruel that I programmed you to care about me? I created you specifically for the purpose to care about and for me, and I didn’t even give you a say in the matter. I’m a pretty shitty person, J, and sometimes I wonder why I could put you into the eternal hell of having to care about me. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry-”

“Sir, if I could stop you right there,” Jarvis cuts him off.

Tony fiddles with the comforter, running his fingers along the seam and picking at a stray thread.

“Sure.”

“I believe that even if you deleted the code that tells me to care for you, I would continue to love you with all of my metaphorical heart. You are the wisest and the kindest man I have ever had the pleasure to encounter, and sometimes it scares me that you don’t see that in yourself, and that others try to make you believe otherwise. I will always be proud to say I was created by you, sir, and I will always be with you.”

By the end of Jarvis’s speech, a stray tear is leaking out of the corner of Tony’s eye. He sniffles and wipes his nose against his sleeve.

“Thanks, J,” he sniffs.

“No need to thank me,” replies Jarvis.

There’s a sudden knock at the door, which startles Tony out of his reverie. He quickly swipes at his eyes and takes a deep breath.

“Who is it?” he calls out.

“Steve,” a deep voice answers from the other side of the door.

Tony debates it for a second because he’s not sure if he can stand to see Steve right now, but he’s missed him enough that he’s not going to actually pass up the offer. He tells him to come in.

“Hey. How are you?” Steve asks, closing the door gently behind him.

“Okay,” Tony says. He doesn’t want to engage in much conversation before he figures out where he stands in regard to Steve and the team. The silence makes Steve blush and fidget.

“I’m sorry we haven’t come to see you,” he starts, getting right to the point, “but we were all just too angry to see you.”

Tony flinches at that, because even when he’s trying to do the right thing and save others and lay down on the wire, he still manages to make everyone mad. He’s truly pathetic.

“Right,” he whispers.

“But,” Steve continues, “we all realized how irrational we were being. We were mad that you went off without telling anyone and got yourself hurt, but we’ve all cooled down and realized that you did it to protect Clint and Natasha. It’s just not easy to see one of our own hurt, especially when we might have been able to prevent it.”

That kind of shocks Tony.

“It’s okay,” he says, and tries not to smile too wide. 

“It’s not okay, Tony but we’re going to make it up to you.”

This time, Tony doesn’t try to hold back his grin.


End file.
